That re­sult dis­proved crit­ics who claimed Oliveira could nei­ther read nor write as re­quired of a mem­ber of congress un­der Brazil’s con­sti­tu­tion. “The elec­toral court con­sid­ers some­one to be in­el­i­gi­ble only if they are to­tally il­lit­er­ate,” the judge said.

Oliveira was elected as a Sao Paulo fed­eral rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Oc­to­ber leg­isla­tive polls with 1.3 mil­lion bal­lots – the most of any of can­di­date across the coun­try.

He ran a hu­mor­ous tele­vi­sion cam­paign dressed as a clown and spout­ing riffs like “What does a fed­eral deputy do? I have no idea – but vote for me and I’ll let you know.”’– Sapa-AFP